Talbot Kelly Lecture

British officer served with LII Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 9th (Scottish) Div on Western Front, 5/1915-7/1917. Recorded at Rugby School, Rugby, GB, 18/7/1966

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as officer with LII Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 9th (Scottish) Div on Western Front, 5/1915-6/1916: organisation of artillery brigade; number and type of guns; brigade's infantry supporting role; observed fire; method of directing fire; role as Forward Observation Officer (FOO); description of observation post and field of view; historical background to and nature of fighting during Battle of the Somme; opinion of supply of artillery shells; comparison of British and German levels of professionalism; opinion of infantry training and newly commissioned officers; effect of Battle of the Somme on morale of Imperial German Army; opinion of Kitchener's Army; prior training at Royal Artillery Regimental Depot, Woolwich, GB; operations during Battle of Loos, 9/1915; opinion of infantry battalions in 29th Div; provision of two signallers with signalling equipment including telephones lines, pigeons, lamps and flags; rota for Forward Observation Officer (FOO); opinion of signallers; problem of Somme offensive being delayed by bad weather; joining French Army troops; terrain and trench system around Montauban-de-Picardie, Longueval and Delville Wood; co-operation with heavy trench mortars to blast gaps in wire; role of artillery, number of guns and use of howitzers. Recollections of operations as officer with LII Bde, Royal Field Artillery during Battle of the Somme, France, 7/1916: background to Somme offensive; secrecy over timing of Zero Hour; shooting down of German observation balloons; preliminary artillery barrage; cutting wire on Glatz Redoubt at Montauban-de-Picardie; use of poplar tree as observation post; opinion of French Army gunners; laying down harassing fire on paths and communications; reports from German prisoners of shortage of supplies; method of working out artillery barrage tables for attack; reason for using timed shrapnel shells and opinion of effectiveness; occupying observation post at Maricourt, 5.30am, 1/7/1916; signals communications; sight of infantry advancing through mist; location of observation post; description of No Man's Land; commencment of artillery barrage at 6.30am and it's duration; sight of artillery shells landing; description of Imperial German Army second line trenches; reason for advancing British Army troops having piece of tin attached to back of uniform. REEL 2 Continues: increase in artillery barrage's intensity prior to infantry advance; description of British Army troops leaving trenches and advancing in three waves at 7.30am; lighting of red flares in former German trenches to confirm capture; how Royal Flying Corps' observers noted flares on map; opinion of success of attack in own sector; story of South African soldier suffering from shell shock; attack by 9th (Scottish) Div after preliminary artillery barrage at dawn, 14/7/1916; role in operations at Longueval and Delville Wood; sight of BL 9.2 Inch Howitzers firing on Imperial German Army machine guns in orchard; sight of dead and dismembered bodies in Longueval; story about Imperial German Army troops being beaten to death; operation to clear Imperial German Army troops out of houses; use of top floor of house as observation post and directing fire onto German machine guns in orchard; opinion of Major-General William Furse; artillery move forward; German counter-attacks; casualties among infantry; return to battery; German counter-attacks on Longueval and Delville Wood; story of 5th Bn Cameron Highlanders leading attack on Longueval and Germans retreating; casualties caused by bomb explosion; move to Vimy Ridge sector.